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I agree with DJLowrider's opinion that a song don't need to be 10 years old or more to be considered memorable, if not the "greatest of all time". A memorable song or should I say one that can be considered as one of the greatest of all time can be called as such even though it's been out very recently. It would be what some would like to call "instant classics". They receive near unanimous praise from music critics and the listening public. The consensus is that they most probably would stand the test of time. An example would be Coldplay's Viva La Vida and M.I.A.'s Paper Planes, two songs from last year that will have a long shelf life based on recurrent airplay and radio playlists.Another example, OutKast's Hey Ya!, Eminem's Lose Yourself and Stan made it in the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time despite being less than 10 years old. Also, the number of anime songs produced during the early 90's and downwards are not that many compared to the music after that. In my honest opinion it is during the new millennium that some of the most memorable OPs and EDs were introduced.

As far as music goes, to me something's memorable if it makes such an impression in my mind that I simply can't forget about it. Typically that kind of impression is a good one, though they can be not so good as well. Take, for example, Lucky Star's OP, "Motteke! Sailor Fuku". Even now hearing the song is pretty jarring to me at times simply because it's so high energy so it's hard for me to say that I really like it that much, but it's quite memorable nonetheless.

Well, I guess that's where our difference in opinion comes from. My definition of memorable in terms of music doesn't mean that it stay in my memory as an individual (those are just my likings and disliking), but that stays in people's memory, thinking of people in terms of a culture that transcends generations. As such, for me a culture's memory is something that can also be properly evaluated from the perspective of time. One cannot assert the impact of a music song if one's part of the impact boom, it can only be objective seen in retrospective how big that impact was in terms of the time, culture, the people, etc.

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In my honest opinion it is during the new millennium that some of the most memorable OPs and EDs were introduced.

As I said, that is part because we are still part of the 2000's impact boom. As such, it is really difficult to objectively evaluate how big of an impact this songs are culturally making when we are still part of that culture, in that time. We are able to judge past pieces in a more fair assessment precisely because they have already passed the test of time. (For example, the people of the 90's might have discussed to death which was their favorite anime piece. However, as people who are already exiting the 2000's,even if there's disagreement whether it's the best, I think there would be no big discussion in that the most memorable and widely known (even outside of the otaku community) anime piece of the 90's is A cruel Angel Thesis.) Is there a single group of pieces from the 2000 that the community can precisely mark as those who will survive the test of time, and remain in people's memory for generations to come?

I mean, it would not be the first time for songs that were critically acclaimed in their time to be utterly forgotten later, and pieces who were promptly dismissed as run of the mill to receive universal appraisal in the forecoming generations. The first example would be Bach's Brandenburg's concerto's, which were writen for a contest as the director of a orchestra in Brandenburg. Bach works didn't made an impression in his time, he didn't even rank in that contest. However the Brandenburg concerto's are now one of the most widely performed works for violin enssembles. And no one remembers the people who won in that contest whatsoever.

If I had to point to a single anime that really began pushing the music used for series to the forefront, it would be the Bubblegum Crisis OVAs of the late 1980's. Before that series came about, much of the OP and ED music you find in anime has more in common with traditional Japanese music (a.k.a. enka) than with anything that was actually popular at the time. Not to mention it's largely boring to listen to on its own. BGC's music really opened the door in more ways than one.

Really, though, if you look back on anime music as a whole, things didn't start getting better (nevermind memorable) until the mid-1990's. Many of the series we hold now as classics from that decade are the ones that provided us with the most memorable OPs, EDs and insert songs that we today might consider among the "greatest of all time". Consequently, this is why originally I said I understood why people might want to put an age minimum on songs that get nominated as being the greatest. These are series and songs that got many people into anime in the first place, after all. It's natural there would be some amount of leaning towards them.

However, take a moment and consider how far that would restrict things here. If we're saying a song needs to be at least 10 years old, then we're talking about anime that aired no more recently than 1999. Taking as a given, as I said earlier, that anime music prior to the early 90's was largely forgettable, you're talking about restricting our music selection for the greatest anime songs of all time to not much more than a single decade's worth of series to select from. That's not only unfair to the many memorable songs and series of this decade, it's far too narrow-minded.

Age has little, if anything, to do with the quality of a given song. Like janfive said, there are such things as instant classics. Good, memorable music should be recognized on its merits, not something arbitrary such as how long it's been around.

Age has little, if anything, to do with the quality of a given song. Like janfive said, there are such things as instant classics. Good, memorable music should be recognized on its merits, not something arbitrary such as how long it's been around.

I edited my post, reposting

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I mean, it would not be the first time for songs that were critically acclaimed in their time to be utterly forgotten later, and pieces who were promptly dismissed as run of the mill to receive universal appraisal in the forecoming generations. The first example would be Bach's Brandenburg's concerto's, which were writen for a contest as the director of a orchestra in Brandenburg. Bach works didn't made an impression in his time, he didn't even rank in that contest. However the Brandenburg concerto's are now one of the most widely performed works for string ensembles. And no one remembers the people who won in that contest whatsoever.

The same with many works that were only given their right stature years later after the author's death. Bach himself, Chopin to a level, Wagner outside of his niche group of followers. On the other hand, few people will remember the works from the myriad of widely loved in their time, but otherwise run of the mill authors from the baroque era outside of Bach, the Scarlatti father and son, Corelli, Verdi, and give or take 20 more.

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However, take a moment and consider how far that would restrict things here. If we're saying a song needs to be at least 10 years old, then we're talking about anime that aired no more recently than 1999. Taking as a given, as I said earlier, that anime music prior to the early 90's was largely forgettable, you're talking about restricting our music selection for the greatest anime songs of all time to not much more than a single decade's worth of series to select from. That's not only unfair to the many memorable songs and series of this decade, it's far too narrow-minded.

If you ask me to select between being too narrow minded and restricted in what I can choose, yet my selections being precise and more substantial, or being too broad minded and including a whole new range of music, yet my selections not going beyond my likings, dislikings, and those of my contemporaries, instead of being able to objectively analyse my selections, then I prefer the former. The turn will arrive for the music of the 2000's after all. Waiting for the 2020 is not much to ask. If they are truly memorable they will hold till then.

The turn will arrive for the music of the 2000's after all. Waiting for the 2020 is not much to ask. If they are truly memorable they will hold till then.

I'm sorry, but in my personal opinion that's nonsense. That's like the Grammys telling a current musical artist that their work may be good and all, but they can't be nominated for an award for 10 years to make sure their work is actually good enough to have persisted that long. If a piece of music is truly good, and people widely recognize it as such, then why must it ensure some bogus "test of time" in order to be recognized? If we're going to really make a list of great anime music it should be inclusive and not exclusive. People don't wait 10 years to add to or change their personal top anime series or TV series or movies or what have you, after all. I see this as being not all that different.

Still, regardless of my personal opinion I'm willing to compromise to an extent here for the sake of wanting to be able to assist further in this endeavor. At the very least you have to admit that 10 years is a ridiculously long period of time to put as a minimum age for a song to be considered here. I would think something more like 3 years would be much more acceptable. 3 years is long enough for most series to have completed their run and have been removed from being actively discussed and along with them their respective songs. If a given anime song persists after 3 years I'd call that plenty memorable enough to qualify.

I'm sorry, but in my personal opinion that's nonsense. That's like the Grammys telling a current musical artist that their work may be good and all, but they can't be nominated for an award for 10 years to make sure their work is actually good enough to have persisted that long. If a piece of music is truly good, and people widely recognize it as such, then why must it ensure some bogus "test of time" in order to be recognized? If we're going to really make a list of great anime music it should be inclusive and not exclusive. People don't wait 10 years to add to or change their personal top anime series or TV series or movies or what have you, after all. I see this as being not all that different.

Why are you mentioning the Grammy's? Their scope is totally different than we are trying to do here. The Grammy's don't really reward songs in terms of how memorable they are, but they follow a totally different set of parameters when awarding one of these prizes.

The same with personal Top 10 lists, even I don't wait 10 years, let alone 1 week. I recently added CLANNAD AS as one of my Top 3, and that is a series that just finished last week.

Which is completely different from the scope of this particular thread, or at least from what I understand. For something to be considered the greatest and of all time, it has to follow a minimum set of guidelines, lest it becomes a naming game where everyone cites, precisely, their top 10.

About the 3-10 years thing, well I have to accept that even that is kindof subjective. I tried to attach it to the time one generation of students take to enter and exit secondary and tertiary education, but even that is an arbitrary threshold. I don't know whether 3 years is long enough, but I guess we can compromise.

An example would be Coldplay's Viva La Vida and M.I.A.'s Paper Planes, two songs from last year that will have a long shelf life based on recurrent airplay and radio playlists.

I have nothing against Cold Play but I hope Paper Planes finds it's way off the shelves sooner rather than later.

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Another example, OutKast's Hey Ya!, Eminem's Lose Yourself and Stan made it in the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time despite being less than 10 years old.

Not sure what RS was smoking when they made that list. "Hey Ya!" was one of the weaker songs on The Love Below (great album) and I don't know anybody that has ever played "Lose Yourself" after 8-Mile stopped showing. And "Stan" was a great concept for a song but I don't think that a song where the chorus is sampled from another artists song should qualify.

A comment was made that a song should be at least 10 years old before it is inducted since it is uncertain whether its popularity will survive with the passage of time. Good point since, kinda like J-Pop, some anime songs have a short shelf life - they're instantly catchy but rarely stick with you after the anime ended. On the other hand, it kinda defeats the "greatest of ALL TIME" theme of this thread if recent songs should be denied consideration. This thread was put up for the new fans of anime music. What better way to let them get acquainted to anime music than to give them a mix of the greatest of the new and the old anime songs. When the time comes when I'll rank the 1,000 greatest songs of all time (probably after the 100th week) I'll rank them according to their current relevance. Maybe if I'm fortunate enough to rank them again 10 years from now their ranks from the last list would most certainly be different. That's what polls and lists do, they rank importance on that point in time when they were conducted. I don't view them as definitive or set in stone but I see them as a good guide on music appreciation.

Kaidoku Funou. By Jinn; 2nd opening for Code Geass.
"I adore this song! Code Geass has always been a huge love of mine and when I heard the song it made it bigger. It very up beat and makes you exctied."

I already suggested 20 out of my top 50 favorites for the past two weeks. Here's another 2 of my suggestions for this week. There's a new entry in my top 50 favorites which is just this year's new anime music to be added in my list. *although that new entry can't be suggested right now since Sony Company removed the video samples*